By Twenty-five years on, actor Ewan McGregor’s memories of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,” more specifically, the release of the film in cinemas, don’t seem particularly pleasant.
The veteran actor appeared at the Goteborg Film Festival this week to receive the fest’s equivalent of a lifetime achievement award and discussed the roles of his career. That includes the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy, he says his memories linger on the way people trashed the films:
“I am happy that I am this character for a lot of people, but when these films came out, they were so disliked. That was hard. The first one was panned and we still had to make another two! It was weird to be in a film that was hammered.”
At the time of release, “Star Wars” was effectively untouchable as a franchise and hype for the film was sky-high. What was delivered resulted in mixed reviews even as it was a box-office juggernaut.
To the fandom though, it was seen as a betrayal – birthing the more toxic side of the “Star Wars” fandom. With time, sentiment has changed somewhat – time has been kind to the prequels, especially with the post-Lucas “Star Wars” era being such a mixed bag.
McGregor was able to reprise his role for the Obi-Wan Kenobi event series for Disney+ and says he’d be happy to return, but no-one has been in touch: “I would love to do the second season, but there’s no talk of it yet. There is a lot going on at Disney.”
McGregor teams with his daughter Clara for his newest film “Bleeding Love” which opens February 16th.
Source: Variety
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